salmon

American  

[sam-uhn] / ˈsæm ən /

noun

• salmons,
  plural
• salmon
  plural

1. a marine and freshwater food fish, Salmo salar, of the family Salmonidae, having pink flesh, inhabiting waters off the North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America near the mouths of large rivers, which it enters to spawn.

2. landlocked salmon.

3. any of several salmonoid food fishes of the genus Oncorhynchus, inhabiting the North Pacific Ocean.

4. a light yellowish-pink.

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adjective

1. of the color salmon.

salmon British  

/ ˈsæmən /

noun

1. any soft-finned fish of the family Salmonidae, esp Salmo salar of the Atlantic and Oncorhynchus species (sockeye, Chinook, etc) of the Pacific, which are important food fishes. They occur in cold and temperate waters and many species migrate to fresh water to spawn

2. any of several unrelated fish, esp the Australian salmon

3. short for salmon pink

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• salmonlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• salmon
  plural
• salmons
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of salmon

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English salmoun, samoun, from Anglo-French from Old French saumon, or directly from Latin salmōn-, stem of salmō

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Explanation

A salmon is a big, silver-skinned fish that lives in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Many commercial fishermen catch salmon. Salmon are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, and then return to the place they were born to spawn, or reproduce. Because they move from one place to another, salmon are famous for leaping over dams and against river tides — in fact, one theory about the word salmon says its Latin root is salire, or "to leap." There is also a color known as salmon, the pink-orange hue of a salmon's flesh.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salmon salmons

Mowi’s salmon start their lives in land-based tanks, where they are vaccinated against various illnesses, such as pancreatic disease and winter sores.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

The salmon start life in smaller, land-based tanks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

More than 14% of farmed Atlantic salmon died last year in Norway before they reached maturity, according to the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

Below the surface of Norway’s glassy ocean fjords, a series of cameras closely monitors thousands of salmon for parasites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

Some see rose and magenta, and others see coral and salmon.

From "Monday's Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson

Shotter said that salmon sperm “is harvested from salmons without harming them.”

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024

As a result, the state has been trucking millions of salmons raised at hatcheries to the ocean each year, bypassing the perilous downstream journey.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2021

In his doorway, protruding on James' sensitive vision, was a pyramid of sixpence-halfpenny tins of salmon, red, shiny tins with pink halved salmons depicted, and another yellow pyramid of four-pence-halfpenny tins of pineapple.

From The Lost Girl by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

I like the salmons, and I dote on the fun and the fuss. 

From Hopes and Fears or, scenes from the life of a spinster by Charlotte Mary Yonge

Also we wanted not of fresh salmons, trouts, lobsters and other fresh fish brought daily vnto vs.

From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. by Richard Hakluyt

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